Incinerator



s'. E. BURTON 'INcINx-:RATOR Aug. 4, 1942.

Filed Jan. '7, 1939 2 sheets-sheet' 1' ....IMLNI .Mnl

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INVENTOR f. l/TN l 5m VESTE/f? I A TTORNE Allg- 4, 1942 s.'E. BURTON 'f2,291,790

i INcINEnAToR Filed Jan. 7, 1939 2 Sheets-Shet 2.

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' ,4 TTORNEY f Patented Aug.l 4, 1942 .i1/Ntra s'r'r PATEN 'r OFFICE 5Claims.

This invention relates to a stove structure or .the like andparticularly pertains an incinerator.

It is common practice to provide incinerators within which to burntrash, garbage, plant cuttings and the like. In most all instances thematerials to be reduced by combustion contain a large amount of water orat least are too damp to burn, and since these products are often filledinto the incinerators as they accumulate without being immediatelyignited, it is dicult to set up combustion in the mass of material, eventhough kindling matter is used. In such cases the kindling is usuallyplaced on top of the mass of material within the fire bowl, resulting inthe fact that the upper layer of material will burn without burning ordrying the mass of accumulated material therebeneath. 4

Itis the principal object of the present invention to provideanincinerator which may be constructed to form an, incinerator of anydesired capacity, the structure being decidedly simple as to structuraldetail and inexpensive as to manufacturing cost, and at the same timeproviding means whereby combustion may be maintained within a mass ofmaterial, the upper .portion of which is being burned o while the bodyof the mass of material is drying, after which the materialprogressively burns to the bottom of the incinerator and is entirelyreduced to ash. It is a further object of the present invention toprovide automatically acting means for establishing and controlling thedraft through the structure.

The present invention contemplates the provision of an incineratorhaving pre-cast base and fire-box portions of a composite nature wherebyif desired they may be built up in separate Acourses one upon the otherto form an incinerator of a desired capacity, the structure alsocontemplating the establishment of-a natural updraft and down-draft, thecontrol of which may be automatic.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a view in central vertical section showing the constructionof the device.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in vertical section showing the stack of theincinerator and the draft regulating means.

Fig. 3 is a view in elevation showing the fragmentary portion of thestack and the thermostatically controlled draft damper.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view showconiiguration.

ing a joint between th device.

Fig. 5 is a view in plan showing the arrangement of a section of thestructure.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, i@ indicates a base plateupon which a plurality of incinerator sections are arranged in coursessuperimposed one upon the other. These sections may be made `oi'anyparticular material. It has been found desirable, however, to constructthem of pre-cast non-inflammable material, and a material suitable forthis purpose has been found to be crude or calcined travatine, ordiatomaceous earth, which has high heat insulating qualities and will,therefore, reduce the fire hazard which might be present by a kindlingaction if the structure` became over-heated.

It is understood that any number of sections may be required and thatthe present arrangement is merely shown by way of example.

A lower section II is provided with an opening i2 inits front wall and acleaning door i3 thereover. 'I'he sections are preferably rectangular inshape although they may be of other plan An outlet draft opening i8 isformed through the back wall of the lower section and a ue unit i5 is incommunication therewith. A typical section is shown in Fig. 5 of thedrawings. Here it will be seen that Athe sections are formed with afront wall I6, a back wall4 Il and a ue wall I8', all parallel, and thatthese walls are tied together by side walls I9 and 20. Formed valong theupper'faces of all composite sections of the of these walls are channelgrooves 2l which are shown in Fig. 4 of the ldrawings as beingsubstantially U-shaped. These grooves receive complementary tongues 22formed along the lower horizontal faces of the sections. The tongues donot t snugly within the grooves and thus provide a space within which acementitious or binding material may be placed. When using variousproducts the space 23 is fllld with sodium silicate or the lik Mountedabove the section Il is a ller section 2G and above it is a fire-boxsection 25. The

nre-box section 25 has downwardly and inwardly inclined walls 26which-form a hearth and which terminate in a throat opening 28. Amovable element 29 is supported adjacent to thisthroat, as shown in Fig.1, and is carried upon a radial arm 30. The -radial arm is mounted topivot upon a shaker bar 3|, This bar may be provided with a pedal orhandle .32 by which it can be manipulated. A ller section 33 is disposeda cover portion 31 and an above the bowl section 25, and other fillersections 34 may be built thereupon.

A top section 36 is provided. This section has inclined front wall 33through which a filler opening 39 occurs. A door 40 covers the filleropening and a draft damper 4I is constructed as a part of the door topermit a desired inflow down draft to be created.

In the wall I1 of the top section 36 is a top draft opening 42 which isshown in Fig. 4 of the drawings as being circular. Mounted over thisopening is a damper plate 43 having segmental slots 44 therethrough.Disposed over the plate 43 is a plate 45 formed with complementarysegmental slots 4B, whichwhen brought to register with the openings 44will permity a flow of air to be established through the draft opening42. This damper might be operated manually. It is desirable, however,that this operation shall be automatic and that its regulation shall bein direct relation to the development of heat within the incinerator. Inorder to accomplish this result the plate 45 is rotated by a thermostatelement 41. fastened to a lug 48 mounted upon the outer plate 45. Theinner end of the element 41 is fastened to a fixed pin 49 carried by theback plate structure 43. Thus, as the spiral element 41 expands andcontracts it will appropriately rotate the plate 45 and Aopen and closethe draft opening 42.

`In operation of the present invention various units are cast and may beassembled as shown in Fig. l. When assembled the tongue and grooveelements 2| and 22 mesh with each other A and the contiguous flat facesof the walls rest upon each other forming the spaces 23 into which abinding material may -be placed,' as shown in Fig. 4.

When the structure is assembled, as shown in Fig. 1, any necessarycombustible material may be filled into the fire-box through the opening39, as indicated at 60 in the drawings. The damper 4I is open at thistime and the automatic damper in the flue comprising the complementaryslotted plates 43 and 45 is also open. The mass of material is ignitedat the top and initially the air will flow in through the damper 4I andacross the top of the mass of material and then into the flue 53 throughthe passageway 42, as indicated by the arrows A, thus the draft of airdrawn through the fire-box will support combustion of the uppermostportion of the material and at this time the lower massv of materialwill be drying. The moist vapors will be drawn off at the bottom of thestructure through the throat 23 and then through the passageway I4 intothe flue 53. In view of the fact that it is intended to producecombustion by down draft,

to insure that in actual practice wet material to be burned will bereduced to This is,

entirely up to the inlet opening. In order 'to facilitate a downdraft itmay be desirable to form the faces of the members 26 in the firebox orthe side walls with longitudinal corrugati'ons, as indicated at 6I inFig. 5. These tend to prevent packing of the combustible materialagainst the wall of the fire-box.

As combustion takes place on the top of the mass of material 60 it willprogressively descend into the mass and when the heat of combustion hasreached', a predetermined temperature the bi-metallic thermostat elementwill act to rotate.

the plate 45 and move the slots 44 and 46 out of register. At that timethe draft will be diverted downwardly through the damper 4| as indicatedby the arrows B in Fig. 1 of the drawings, after which all of theproducts of combustion will be drawn downwardly through the mass ofburning materal and outwardly through the throat 23 into the ash-pitfrom whence it will pass through the opening I4 into the flue 53, andwill then be drawn upwardly to be discharged into the air.

Attention is directed to the fact that since the draft structure overthe opening 42 is controlled automatically it will be disposed atvarious deit is necessary to create a draft having suiiicient velocityat the bottom of the mass of material to rapidly draw the products ofcombustion and the moisture created in drying the material away from theilrebox and into the flue. For that reason a restricted outlet has beencreated in the center of the conical hearth and at the point where thematerials are drawn downwardly through the conical hearth and into .theflrebox. It will be seen that due to the fact that the hearth is conicalshaped there will be a gradual restriction in the air passageway fromthe firebox resulting in maximum velocity of the air as it is drawnthrough the opening in the hearth. By this arrangement the materials arerapidly dried and combustion is supported in a manner grees of opening.Thus, when products have been burned in the incinerator and the burningaction has subsided sufficiently to cool the gases passing downwardlythrough the ash-pit and upwardly through the flue 5I the damperstructure over the opening 42 will be partially opened. Thus, are-circulation draft will be created inwardly through the damper andthen downwardly through the mass of material 60. This insures that thematerials will be completely burned, and it has a particular advantagein that any materials carried in the air passing upwardly through theflue 5I and back into the fire-box and which materials have not beencompletely burned will be burned on their second passage through thenre-box. It has also been found desirable to form one of the partitionwalls I1 of the fire-box with a radiation plate 65. This plate ismounted in an opening in the' wall and is made of metal so that as thefire-box becomes heated heat will radiate directly through the wall ofthe fire-box to the flue 5I and thus induce a draft in the ilue byheating the air there present.

It will thus be seen that by this arrangement a simple and effectiveincinerator or stove might be made in which materials could be burned.and'that these materials would be progressively burned from the top ofthe mass in the fire-box while drying the material therebeneath, afterwhich combustion will continue until the entire mass of material hasburned and has fallen through the throat 23 and into the 'ash-pit asashes. It will also be seen that by the simple arrangement as heredisclosed it is possible to establish and control the draft and toinsure that it will be directed against or through the.

the damp andy y on' the cover, a ue structure communicating with thenre-box above the combustible material placed therein whereby a draftwill be established to support combustion of the uppermost of saidmaterial, and a damper adapted to establish and interrupt communicationbetween the lire-box and nue and an ash pit beneath said hearth, the

hearth being formed with a relatively small' passageway establishingcommunication between the iirebox and the ash pit and creating a highvelocity flow of products of combustion from the iirebox as theseproducts are drawn away from the ash pit.

2. A garbage incinerator within which a mass of undried garbage ispl-aced for combustion comprising a hre-box having an inverted lconicalhearth and an ash pit therebeneath, the downwardly disposed apex ofwhich hearth is formed with a central opening of relatively small areacommunicating with the ash pit, the hearth being impe'torate otherwise,ribs extending upwardly along the inner surface of said hearth and thevertical walls of the iire-box, a closure element disposed beneath thehearth and being substantially conical to project into the hearthopening, means normally supporting said element to partially close theopening to increase the velocity of the products voi combustion as theypass through the hearth opening and whereby the element may be moved toan unobstructing position, a closed ash-pit disposed beneath the hearth,a vertical ue extending upwardly along the side wall of the nre-box andhaving an opening communicating with the ash-pit and an openingcommunicating with the fire-box at a height above the normal level ofthe material to be burned` therein, a closure for the top of the re-boxat a point above said opening, an opening in said cover provided with adoor through which the re-box may be i'illed and a damper on said doorfor controlling the inow of air to support comy bustion of the material.

3. An incinerator for undried garbage and the like which comprises ahearth formed with downwardly and inwardly tapering side wallsprovidinga central throat opening, an ash pit beneath said hearth and with whichsaid lopening communicates, a nre-box thereabove to receive materials tobe burned, a nue extending vertically along the wall of said nre-box. aflue opening to cleanout door in the opposite wall of the ash pit fromthe flue opening, said door being normally closed, a draft openingestablishing communication between the upper portion of the re-box andthe iiue, a charging door disposed in the opposite wall of the nre-boxfrom'said draft opening` and through which a controlled iiow of air tothe upper portion of the fire-box is eiectd, said air being free to owover the top of the accumulated mass oi unburned material resting on thehearth or to pass downwardly through the mass of material and arestricted opening in the hearth to the flue opening inthe ash pit, anda thermostatic control damper disposed in the draft opening whereby asthe .temperature produced by the combustionmaterial increases th\ ndamper will close.

4.` A down draft incinerator, including a iire box having an air intakeopening adjacent the top thereof, a hearth therefor in the form of aninverted cone having a relatively small central opening through its apexforming a throat through which air,Y passes in a downward direction, aclosure element adapted to be positioned beneath and in proximity tosaid throat -opening, mounting means therefor, whereby the closureelement may be moved to and from its normal position an ash pit beneathsaid hearth, and a flue communicating therewith and into which gases ofcombustion may pass 'from the ash pit.

5. An incinerator for receiving a mass oi material to be burned andcomprising a housing, an ash pit at the bottom thereof, a hearththereabove, said hearth having downwardly tapering side walls convergingcentrally to form a throat opening which communicates with the ash pit,vertical extending ribs formed on the inner surfaces of the hearth, afire box above the hearth, an air and charging opening adjacent the topof the nre box and through which air may pass yin a downward paththrough the iire box and the ash pit adjacent to the imperforate hearth,a

the throat opening in the hearth to the ash pit and through which thetire box may be charged,

a cover for said opening, an air inlet regulating damper on the cover, aiiue structure communieating with the re box above the combustiblematerial placed therein, whereby a draft will be established across themass oi' material to support combustion of the uppermost portion ot saidmaterial, a damper ,adapted to establish and interrupt communicationbetween the iire box and the iiue, thermostat control means for thedamper acting under iniluence oi the variation ot temperature generatedby the combustion of the material in the iire box, and a flue connectionwith the ash pit whereby a down draft will be established through theiire box when the ue damper is closed and whereby the products ofcombustion will iiow with increased velocity asthey are drawn from thebottom ot the iire box.

' sYLvEsrna E. BUa'roN.

